


Hiding in Plain Sight

by thunderscape7



Series: Bad-ass Mage Women Save Thedas [4]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Amell-Aranai daughter is the inquisitor, Auntie Leliana, Dragon Age Quest: The Wrath of Heaven, Game Dialogue, Haven, Negative towards Solas, Racial slurs, Secrets, Teen-quisitor, false identities
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-29
Packaged: 2018-11-19 09:13:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11310303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderscape7/pseuds/thunderscape7
Summary: My Teen-quisitor AU that utilizes Zevran Aranai and Sofia Amell's adopted 12-year-old daughter Dannielle Arainai-Amell.





	1. Chapter 1

Dannielle felt a crushing soreness pulling at her shoulders that sunk all the way down to her knees. It didn’t make sense, especially as her feet were going numb against the cold stone. When she searched the depths of her memory she couldn’t recall how in the Maker’s great green earth she ended up in a dungeon.

_ Papa’s Rules #1. Don’t get caught. _ She thought with a sigh.  _ Rule #2: if caught, make nice with your captors _ . It had, after all, been how her parents met. The only problem was that she didn’t remember being caught in the first place. There were four guards posted around her, but they didn’t speak or acknowledge her. The pulsing wound on her hand flared green again and she couldn’t stifle the cry of pain that escaped her as pain laced up her arm. She sucked in a hiss of discomfort and flexed her fingers. She was trembling. What had they done to her? 

The door to the cell slammed open. “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you now!” A severe looking Nevarran woman all but screamed at her. Was she a seeker? Her armor looked familiar.

“I . . . I . . .” the lanky twelve-and-a-half year old elf stammered. Her brilliant silver-blue eyes fell on the woman that had entered behind the first. Wait . . .

_ Leliana? _

The first woman was circling around her, catching Dannielle’s attention again. “The temple was destroyed. Everyone at the Conclave is dead. Except for you.” She grabbed Danni’s left wrist tightly. “Explain  _ this _ .”

“I can’t--wait. What do you mean everyone is dead?” her face paled. Everyone? But . . . her father had been there.

“What do you mean you can’t?” the severe woman sneered but Leliana stayed her arm.

“We need her, Cassandra.” she implored to the Nevarran woman.

Cassandra nodded. “Go ahead to the forward camp. I’ll take the prisoner to the breach.”

***

As the last shade fell, a tall, bald elf grabbed Danni’s left wrist. “Quickly! Before more come through!” he lifted her ‘marked’ hand, as Cassandra called it, towards the rift. The mark flared, pulling at her arm in a pain that whited out her vision for a split second. It felt like a thread connected her arm to the rift, tugging at her muscles. She instinctively pulled her hand back, as if pulling a thread right to sew up a tear in cloth. The rift snapped shut and she stumbled back slightly from the force. She took a moment to stare at the green gash in her palm, like a wound bleeding the fade itself. Then she looked back at the elf.

“What did you do?”

“I did nothing. The credit is yours.”

“M-me?”

The elf grinned. He was ragged looking and had a jawbone tied to a strip of leather around his neck. Talk about embracing your elvhen roots. “Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky placed that mark upon your hand. I merely theorized the mark might be able to close the rifts. It seems I was correct.” He seemed very pleased with himself.

“Uhm . . . congratulations.” She said sheepishly.

“Yes. It seems you hold the key to our salvation, young one.”

“Good to know,” a gruff voice said from behind her. A dwarf with a vast chest of auburn hair and an incredibly mechanical crossbow. “Here I thought we’d be ass-deep in demons forever.” He sauntered up towards her and she felt a little awkward. She was only a little bit taller than the dwarf. “Varric Tethras. Rogue, storyteller, and occasionally, unwelcome tagalong.” he winked at Cassandra and she made a sound of disgust that made her giggle.

“Your crossbow’s name is Bianca?” she asked after a moment.

The bald elf stepped forward. “I am Solas if there are to be introductions. I am pleased to see you still live, by the way.”

“Wh-what?”

“He means, ‘I kept that mark from killing you while you slept’.” Varric muttered and Danni nodded.

“Oh. Uhm . . . Dannielle.” she whispered, feeling like she needed to introduce herself to someone. No one else had asked. 

“A pleasure.” Solas said, looking her over. “That’s not a Dalish name.”

“Oh. no. It’s not.  _ I’m _ not--”

“And you do not yet have your  _ vallaslin _ . I was correct in my original thinking that you are young,  _ da’len _ .”

Danni stopped and watched him warily. Yes, she was born of two elves from Denerim,  _ city _ elves. But she had been adopted after the blight. Who was this guy to think he knew all about her and what she  _ should _ be. “Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry. Do you not speak elvhen?”

She crossed her arms. “I know what  _ da’len _ means.” she said firmly. “What did you originally think of me?” Varric chuckled beside her.

“Boy, we’re going to have fun in the valley.” he muttered, to which Cassandra made a small sound.

“Absolutely not. Your help is appreciated Varric but--”

“You need me Seeker. Your men are overwhelmed and this prisoner of yours is, what, fifteen? You need all the help you can get.” 

_ He thinks I’m fifteen? _ Well, Danni was glad that her glamour rune was still in place and working. If they thought she was fifteen, she could work with that. Now she just had to figure out what the hell was going on and why Leliana hadn’t spoken to her.

***

“Your magical ability is quite impressive.” Solas said, though Danni wasn’t sure if she should really take it as a compliment or not. He seemed kind of douchey. “Your mastery over electricity is quite advanced. Are you circle trained?” He asked after the rift in front of the gates had been broken apart and she latched her staff to her back. It was just a basic apprentice staff, she missed her one at home, but she shrugged to Solas.

“No. My mother taught me.”

“An apostate.” Cassandra sighed, saying the word as if it were a curse.

_ Well, kind of. My mother is Sofia Amell, the Hero of Ferelden, thank you very much. You know, hero of the blight, best friend of King Alistair  _ and _ Leliana, vanquisher of the Archdemon. But you don’t know that. So yes, I’m just the kid of a dirty apostate. _ She thought bitterly. She debated telling them her parentage, but decided that she would wait until later if it was necessary.

“Open the gates!” Cassandra ordered and as the heavy wooden doors were thrown open they were met with shouting coming from a table up the bridge. Leliana was standing arguing with some man in chantry garb.

“Good, you made it.” Leliana gasped, smiling and meeting Danni’s eyes. She was acting like a stranger. They had seen each other just last year at a party in Denerim. “Chancellor Roderick this is . . .”

“I know who she is.” The chancellor spat, pointing a finger at her. “As grand Chancellor of the Chantry I hereby order you to take this  _ criminal _ to Val Royeaux to face execution!”

“Execution?!” Danni gasped, her eyes growing wide but no one seemed to pay her any mind. Cassandra stepped forward angrily.

“Order me? You’re nothing but a glorified clerk. A bureaucrat.”

“And you are a thug, but a thug who supposedly supports the chantry!” Roderick shouted back. He didn’t seem like he felt strong enough to fight Cassandra, but he definitely had an opinion on matters.

Leiliana crossed her arms. “You know very well that we serve the Most Holy, chancellor.” She was stoick, controlled in a way that she wasn’t around Danni’s mother. There was a glint in her eyes that scared her a little bit, like she was thinking of all the ways she could get back at Roderick later.

Roderick grunted. “Justinia is dead! We must elect her replacement immediately and follow Her orders on the matter.” he argued.

Danni was scared, confused, and angry. She didn’t hurt anyone! Everyone thought she was a criminal who killed the Divine and thousands of other people! How could they think that?! “Don’t we want to stabilize the breach first?”

“You are the reason for this!” Roderick shouted at her with rage in his eyes. “You killed the Divine! You have destroyed the Conclave. A dirty apostate knife-ear.” he snarled and Danni took a few shuddering steps back in shock. She had never been directly spoken to in such a manner. “Call a retreat, Seeker. There has been too much death already.”

Leliana was bristling. She looked about ready to strangle the Chancellor. “No. We must get to the Temple before things get worse.”

Cassandra agreed. “If we charge with the soldiers through the pass we can get to the temple quickly. It is the fastest route through the area.”

“But not the safest. If we cut through the mountains we could--”

Cassandra turned to Leliana, cutting her off. “We lost contact with an entire squad on that path. It’s too risky.”

The breach pulsed, cracking across the sky. At the same time, the mark on Danni’s palm spat green and tore through her veins in pain. She had to grip her arm to keep it from shaking and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. Varric stepped up beside her. “You okay kid?” he asked softly, brow pinched. Danni blinked away tears and gave a short nod. Before she could speak, however, Cassandra turned to her.

“How do you think we should proceed?” she asked. If she noticed the effect of the breach on Danni, she didn’t show it. 

“Why are you asking me?” Danni asked after she recovered, looking to the seeker. 

“You are the one with the mark. It makes sense that you could state your opinion.” Solas said firmly. “Especially since we could potentially be putting you in unnecessary danger.”

Varric snorted. “Have you looked around yourself, Chuckles? Everything is a danger.” he muttered.

With hesitation, Danni looked up to Leliana, meeting her eyes. She wanted to ask for her help. She trusted her. She was like an aunt to her. Why wasn’t she saying anything? Except she was looking at her with cold indifference. Did Leliana really think she had done all of this? Killed all those people?

“You want me dead anyway.” Danni said with a slight quaver in her voice, “We should charge with the soldiers.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danni is named Herald of Andraste

Danni woke with a blinding headache. She felt like she had overexerted all of her muscles at once, and her eyelids felt like lead. She hadn’t, however, expected to wake up in a bed in a warm cabin. If anything, she had expected a cell on stone floor in the dungeon belpow the Chantry.

“Dannielle.” Leliana was sitting beside her bed, her purple hood pulled down and away from her face. Upon seeing her, Danni sat up slowly and stiffly.

“Leliana. What . . . what happened? Where am I?” She asked. She knew that, at the very least, she had not been taken to Val Royeaux. The cabin was simply too rustic and “Ferelden” for the capital of Orlais.

“You succeeded in stopping the growth of the Breach. It still exists, but it has stopped growing.”

“I failed?”

“No. One person seems to not have enough power to close the Breach. You almost died, and have been unconscious for three days.” Leliana explained. “You are still in Haven. Which begs the question, why were you at the Conclave, Dannielle?” the analytical coldness in her eyes from before returned. Danni sighed.

“ _ Papá _ ’s group, the band of ex-Crows he created after the blight, was hired as covert security.” Leliana frowned.

“You were hired? By whom?”

“The Divine. I don’t know all the details, just that we were supposed to stay hidden. In case anything happened . . . I guess we missed something huh?” Danni looked up sharply at the woman. “You don’t still think I did this, do you?”

Leliana smiled kindly at the girl she had come to think of as a niece, who she watched grow up over the years. “No. In fact, many in Haven are now calling you the Herald of Andraste. Sent by the Maker’s wife to close the Breach and save Thedas. What I  _ am _ concerned about is the fact that your mother allowed you to join in your father’s endeavors so young.”

Danni looked down, realizing she was in new clothing. “I haven’t seen mom for two years. She left on some kind of important Grey Warden business that  _ papá _ won’t talk about. He thought me being with him would help keep the templars off my back.” she explained. “I am-- I was more of a covert assistant than anything else.” the thought that her father had been at the Conclave, that he was probably dead, was enough to make tears sprinkle down her cheeks. Leliana took her hand gently.

“I’ll see if I can contact Sofia. I have a few ideas on where she could be.” she explained. “However, there are some things we must discuss before the others realize you are awake.”

Danni swiped a hand over her cheek. “Like what?”

“It is unwise for your identity to be spread so publicly. Sofia and Zevran kept the adoption quiet for a reason. There are too many people in Thedas who would attack you to get to them and vise versa. Since your father’s group was not officially in attendance at the Conclave, that helps me hide your identity a little better.” She pulled a fill off the floor and placed it on Danni’s lap. “You are Dannielle Lavellan. When your magic showed at a young age, you had to leave your Dalish clan because there were already too many mages. You were taken in by a few strangers in the Free Marches and raised there. You can come up with minor details, but this is what I told Cassandra I ‘found’ on you.”

Danni looked inside the file a moment, seeing a few key names that she should memorize: Keeper Deshanna Istimaethoriel, clan First Mahanon Lavellan, and hunter Elana Lavellan. The latter had apparently attended the Conclave with the First. The names of her ‘parents’ were also there: Trevan and Anise Danaiman. “But I don’t know anything about being Dalish.”

“You left as a child and grew up among humans. You’ll be fine.” Leliana assured her. “You are fifteen, as many seem to believe thanks to that rune you have, and hopefully we can keep that up. It is difficult for people to trust their lives and fate to a teenager, let alone someone your age. A twelve-year-old would be underestimated and resisted much more and we don’t have time to fight through that right now. Do you understand?”

Danni nodded. “I get it. I’ve done this before. Assumed a role.  _ Papá _ didn’t want me seen as too young either.”

“Good. Burn the file once you have memorized the information. I must get back to the Chantry before I am missed.” Leliana stood. “Rest a little while longer. When you feel up to it, come to the Chantry.” and with that, Leliana was gone. 

Danni sat, quiet and pondering, for some time. She understood the necessity of discretion, especially around a bunch of people so ready to call for her head in one moment and calling her a messenger of Andraste the next. It explained why leliana had acted as if she didn’t know her as well. It was true that her parents did all they could to keep her safe and out of danger. The only people that really knew of the adoption had been the good friends who had travelled with them throughout the blight, and some of the Grey Wardens at Vigil’s Keep near Amaranthine. After Sofia Amell had been announced Arlessa of the keep, when Danni was three, she stayed there and was babysat by those that didn’t accompany the Warden-commander. Anders and Sigrun had always been the most fun. They played make-believe and fun games around the keep. Justice had always been a bit scary, Velanna seemed disinterested in her, and Nate was awkward, though he did teach her archery. Oghren watched her occasionally, but Danni had learned later on that he had always had a chaperone of his own, usually Varel, for safety.

But she knew her mom only let her be around them like that because she trusted her people. Not only that, but they would be able to protect her as well. Not even the Crows in her father’s group knew they were family and she had worked closely with them for the last eighteen months.

Danni rested for another thirty minutes before she stood and stretched out her stiff muscles. She took the file of information and slipped it under the bed’s mattress for later and dressed in some folded clothes that had been left out for her on a small chest. She secured her clamour rune--made and disguised by Sandal--around her wrist. It didn’t do much but make her appear a little older and matured than she actually was. It gave her more of a figure, rather than the barely-there breasts that she had, and slimmed out her face to hide the small amount of baby fat she still had. Everything else stayed the same. She was a short, boney kid with big eyes, stubby fingers, and bright blonde hair.

The crowd outside the cabin startled her, muttering and calling her Andraste’s herald. She was thankful for the scarf around her neck, hiding her face in it as she took the steps three at a time towards the Chantry.  _ Flames _ she hoped she didn’t screw this up.

At first, when she entered, she wasn’t sure where to go, that is, until she heard the shouting coming from a room at the far end of the hall.

“There! Chain her!” Roderick yelled to the guards by the door as she entered. “I want her prepared for travel to the capital for trial!”

“Disregard that and leave us.” Cassandra commanded. The guards obviously feared her wrath more than the Chancellor’s because they left immediately, leaving Danni to approach the large wooden table that Cassandra, Leliana, and Roderick were gathered around.

Roderick purpled. “You do not have the authority!”

Cassandra turned to him. “The Breach is stable but still a threat. We need her and I will not ignore it.”

“I tried my best, I swear.” Danni said softly. “It nearly killed me.”

“Yet here you are. How  _ convenient. _ ” Roderick hissed.

“Have a care, Chancellor. Besides, the Breach is not the only threat we now face.”

Leliana nodded. “Someone was behind the explosion at the Conclave. Someone the Most Holy was not expecting. It is possible they died with the others,  _ or _ have allies who yet live.”

“And  _ I _ am suspect?” Roderick sounded massively offended.

“You. And many others.”

“But not the prisoner?” the scathing look he shot at Danni made her jump back a little.

“The Divine called for her help. Everyone heard it at the Temple. I believe her story and do not believe that she is directly involved.” Cassandra said firmly. They argued back and forth for so long that Danni zoned out a little only coming back into the conversation when Cassandra slammed a large tome on the table. “This is a writ from the Divine granting us the authority to act. I declare the Inquisition of old reborn. We will close the Breach, find those responsible, and restore order. With or without your approval.” She shoved her finger at his chest with each of the last five words.

The Chancellor made a sound of disgust, cursing Cassandra under his breath and storming out of the room. As Cassandra and Leliana declared the start of the Inquisition, Danni had to wonder just what she had been forced into.

***

Danni decided that her ‘advisors’ were infuriating. They argued all the time, especially about mages and templars. Every decision was shoved on her when  _ they _ were advising her and constantly telling her that her age was a disadvantage. Something about less knowledge and experience. She was to travel to the Hinterlands to see a Chantry mother with Cassandra, Varric, and Solas.

The last week had been spent getting to know the people in Haven. She had found some notes for Adan the apothecary, talked with Threnn the requisitions officer, and had dinners with Leliana. She really liked chatting with Josephine over tea and Cullen, she learned, had been trained as a templar at thirteen. She would be that old in a few months! She couldn’t imagine it.

Solas pissed her off. Not only did he assume that she was Dalish even when she said she wasn’t, but he was constantly patronizing her. Talking down to her and talking smack about ‘other elves’. She found out very quickly that she hated talking to him because it seemed anything she said was incorrect in his eyes. She also hated how he called her ‘ _ da’len _ ’. As if she was supposed to find that endearing or meaningful.

“Hey kid.” Varric’s voice jolted her out of her thoughts. “Now that Cassandra’s out of earshot, how are you holding up? A prisoner of the Chantry to savior of Thedas. Most people would have spread that out over more than one day.”

Danni gave him a small smile. Varric was funny and comforting. She loved his stories and he helped make the idea of the long trip that much more bearable. “I’m exhausted. And scared. I can’t believe all those people . . .”

Sadness passed over the dwarf’s features as he nodded. “Calling all of this ‘bad for morale’ would be an understatement. I still can’t believe anyone was in there and lived.”

“For the record, I’m not a fan of it either.” Danni whispered. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course. What’s up, kid?”

“I . . . I guess I was just wondering why you’ve stayed. Cassandra made it sound like you could.” She said softly, not wishing to offend him.

“I like to think I’m as selfish as the next sod, but this is bigger than any of us. I’ve been running for too long. It’s best if I stick with it for a while. Besides, what would you do without your charming dwarven companion to keep you company?”

Danni giggled as he winked. “I’d be bored to death by Solas.” She made a face, sticking out her tongue.

Varric laughed and shook his head. “You’re a good one, kid. Sorry we had to meet like this.”

“I mean, I guess it could be worse.” she whispered, catching Varric off guard. “Solas could have been stuck being the ‘Herald’.” They both laughed, thinking of how unbearable the fade-obsessed elf would be in her position.


End file.
